And we’re off…

On Wednesday, we had our company Christmas party. I think it’s safe to say it’s the event of the year we’re all looking forward to. This year, at last, the main theme was circus (dream circus, actually!) so I was very excited about it.

To be honest, I didn’t really like the party this year. I am supposed to be one of the organisers, but this year a lot of things were taken out of our control by hiring a venue with a theme already in place, decorations and performers.

I think I had expected a bit more, I don’t know. I decided to wear a black long shirt-dress for the evening, with my yellow high heels. Since I was self-conscious of the length of the dress, I needed to make sure everything was kept safely covered all night. I had a bit of an issue with a button coming undone and showing a little bit more cleavage than I wanted (a wardrobe malfunction I only notice when I caught my friend staring way below my eyes!) but overall I think I looked good (heck, I looked hot, mission accomplished!)

The room we were in, felt a bit like an end of century banquet room, for weddings and similar. There were a few tables scattered around, a carpeted floor and a small dance floor on one side, with the DJ stand in there.

When we arrived, it looked awesome. However, it looked pretty empty for the whole evening, with some people sitting down, and others (few) dancing. The music felt quite outdated to me, at least until 10:30pm, when I left. If the party was crazy after that, I can’t say.

I think a strong factor was the fact that I wasn’t drunk. I had decided I didn’t want to end up drunk, possibly depressed (because alcohol), and start my holidays with a hangover. I had booked Thursday as a “rest” day in my calendar anyway, but I wasn’t looking forward to a headache and a queasy stomach.

On arrival, we were offered some prosecco and the star cocktail of the evening, the lemon drop martini. I think I had two of each, maybe three lemon drop ones, that I’m not entirely sure, before I switched to Diet Coke. Yup, that was my sensible drink for the night. I joked saying that because of the outfit I was wearing, I didn’t want to get drunk, lose my balance, fall and flash everything. I didn’t want to lose my dignity and virtue… The truth was that lately, if I get too drunk, I end up feeling pretty bad about myself and end up crying (usually once I get home, so no public scenes). Who wants that, right? Too much over-sharing?

Every time I attend a work party or drinks, I always have this feeling that I have to be chasing people to chat, that everyone always wants to spend time with everyone else, except me. It’s exhausting. I always end up on my own, tired of trying to grab people’s attention. Normally, I feel uncomfortable about it but last night I was fine.

My friend Oummou said she was leaving when her husband got there, so I asked her if they could give me a lift. Having a deadline helped a lot. At some point, after I had swapped my high heels for my comfy boxing trainers (that didn’t go with my dress at all) I decided to have a vodka (Absolut!) with orange. I sat down at a table and did some people watching. It’s funny to see drunk people when you’re completely sober.

After a few minutes, and before I had finished my drink, Oummou came to tell me it was time, so I grabbed my stuff, said bye and left.

All in all, it was an alright night, but nothing to write home about (the music was terrible, seriously).

The day was much more exciting than the evening, I believe. We had our team lunch and exchanged our secret Santa presents. This year, we did it truly mysterious and we did a blind secret Santa, if that exists… We left our presents at reception and then drew numbers to see which present we would get. It was fun and exciting. I got a Costa Coffee gift card (yay!) and a box of crackers (the popping ones with presents and jokes inside, not the ones you eat with cheese). I brought the crackers to our lunch, so we could all open them and enjoy the silly games. I also got a travel mug, because I mentioned that mine had broken and the owner decided to gift theirs to me, which was very sweet.

For lunch, we went to Navarro’s, a Spanish tapas restaurant. The first time I went I brought clients for a Christmas lunch, and I was impressed with the quality of the food. My previous experiences with tapas places are a bit disappointing. This year, I can say the experience was also great. They were very accommodating, and helped us cater the vegan and vegetarian options we had. I requested red and white sangria, which they were also happy to provide and at the end of the meal, they gave us some mantecados for free. The food was amazing.

It was the third time I had gone to that restaurant, and I was a bit nervous about it, because it had been my recommendation, but it seems everyone enjoyed it.

When we got back to work, I managed to finish a couple of emails that I needed to send out and got ready for the party (that was pretty much all I had time for).

On Thursday, I decided to do absolutely nothing. My me day. My plan was, from the start, to wake up, probably go back to sleep, then get up, have breakfast, watch TV, maybe go back to bed, etc. I am happy to report that it all went according to plan.

Today, I’m meeting my friend Sean for some shopping, lunch and champagne, possibly not in that exact order. I also want to buy a couple of ingredients I’m missing for a carrot cake, as well as get ingredients for an online cookie exchange I’m planning to take part in.

Tomorrow, I’m spending the night at RMH again, and it’s pretty much the only time I can spare that is not going to disrupt all the plans I have these holidays.

These two weeks are going to be spent trying to work on the blog, and doing crafts and projects. I want to get back on track with my healthy living as well (I know it’s the most difficult time for this, but pool party in March) and meet up with friends.

I am very excited about this time off, I need to clear my head of many things and be able to start the new year with a clear mind and positive energy around me, because the first few months of 2015 are going to be a bit intense, I think.

Finally, let me tell you already that although I’ll try to post during Christmas, as I’ve said previously, I might not be able to. I’ll try to schedule posts whenever possible, but I might also take some days off from actual writing and just work behind the scenes.

What are your plans for the holidays? Are you celebrating with your family or spending time with friends?